The disclosure relates generally to the field of tile installation. Commonly installed tiles include those made of ceramic, stone, wood, webbed mosaic, and other materials. Tile installation spacers are widely used by both professionals and novices for maintaining adequate and consistent spacing between tiles.
In the process of covering floor, wall and counter surfaces with ceramic tile and the like, individual tiles, or sheets of mosaic glued to a mesh webbing, are individually set into either some form of adhesive, or some form of mortar. In the process of setting the individual pieces, it is known to use tile spacers to assist in achieving uniformly sized grout spacing between the tiles or sheets of mosaic. These are typically in the shape of a cross, so as to define a corner where four tiles will intersect. One leg of the cross can be cut off, making a T spacer, which can be used when an offset layout is utilized, with T-shaped grout spaces at the intersection of three tiles. The spacers are typically made of semi-rigid plastic or soft rubber having depths ranging from ⅛ to ¼ of an inch, with spacing widths of between 1/32 of an inch (i.e., <1 millimeter) and ⅜ of an inch or more. For brick, cement block and larger tiles, larger sizes of spacers, with considerably more depth, are used.
The spacers are sometimes used edgewise as an aid to laying out an array of tiles where a long row of dry tiles can be laid out, set apart by the edgewise spacers. Layout can be adjusted or changed prior to fixation of the tiles, because installers can better determine the best lay of the tiles using spacers prior to fixing tiles. Tape measures or other devices are difficult to use and precise tile location marks are often less than accurate. The profile of the invention prevents the device from toppling over or turning sideways or falling into the proposed grout joint and sometimes slipping under the tiles. Such spacers also are sometimes used edgewise as stacking spacers for vertical installations (wall tiles).
Most tile layers have large, heavily callused fingers and find the spacers hard to handle. The spacers must be removed from the grooves between the tiles after the tiles are set, by means of a pick, thin spatula, or other spacer remover tools. When working with the spacers, it is difficult to handle them and move them around. Additionally, they provide no guide to the depth of the lay of the tiles (the uniformity of the final finish across several tiles) as the job proceeds.
Improved tile spacing devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,288,534. This patent discloses spacers having straight, cross-shaped, or T-shaped raised spacer elements on one or both sides of a generally disk-shaped platform. The spacer on one side of the platform can be used as a handle for inserting and removing the spacer on the other side of the platform. Also, the entire device is larger and more easily handled than the traditional flat, cross-shaped spacer (with or without an extended handle). The platform rests against the outer surfaces of the adjacent tiles, providing a guide for maintaining a uniform height and even level across multiple tiles. The tile spacers disclosed in that patent have enjoyed significant commercial success.
A criticism leveled by some, particularly non-professional, tile setters is that portions of known tile spacers can obscure their ability to visually confirm that they have correctly aligned edges and corners of tiles using the spacers. A need exists for a tile spacing device that is easily handled, inserted, and removed, has a profile suitable for direct visual confirmation of tile arrangement, provides a guide for laying tiles uniformly across several tiles, and allows the user to view the engagement of the spacer with the tiles and the alignment of the tiles. The technology described herein satisfies this need.